


3-on-3 Dragon-Riding Tackle Dodgeball

by messier51



Series: Tired Tropes [12]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Athlete Castiel, Athlete Dean, Dragon Impala, Dragon Jimmy Novak, Dragons, Gen, Sports, characters are bonded to their dragons, clockwork mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 14:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7536850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/messier51/pseuds/messier51
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragon riding tackle dodgeball is the most popular sport in the world, and Dean's the youngest dragon rider to take the field. He can't wait for his first real match, but part of him is worried he'll mess it all up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr [here](http://messier51.tumblr.com/post/120426438842/professional-athletes-on-opposing-teams-au) for the [tired tropes](http://messier51.tumblr.com/post/120138934007/ceeainthereforthat-defilerwyrm-why-settle) prompt: "professional athletes on opposing teams AU."
> 
> (2nd Chapter is just more info about 3-on-3 Dragon Riding Tackle Dodgeball)

Dean converts every strand of restless energy into excitement (or tries to) as he fastens the last strap of Impala’s clockwork helmet over her head. She’s a Black Dragon, and she’s got a lot of natural armor. Definitely enough to hold up against tickers and the other Dragons.

The crowd in the arena buzzes like a death knell, and Dean starts strapping on his own armor. He leaves a kiss on his baby’s nose before checking in with Captain Benny and their ace, Jo. Both of them are older by far than they look, tied to their dragons as they are. Dean can feel it when he looks at them, and he wonders how he’ll feel in a hundred years. It’s a much more calming thought than the oscillating hum of the people out there.

Impala nudges Dean’s lower back with her snout–she knows he’s not paying attention like he should. She’s definitely the brains.

“We’re up against the meanest set of harpies you’ve ever met,” Benny says, looking significantly at Jo.

“No. Anyone but them.”

“Yeah, look. They’re gonna come after Dean, hard and fast. They’ve never had a sweeper, but they’ve got a newbie on their team too. Maybe that’s why we’re slotted against them first. Don’t know anything about the guy, but if they like him, he won’t be a slouch.”

“Do we have a plan?” Jo asks, nonplussed.

“Don’t die. We’ll horde as much as we can, and Dean will sweep. Jo can take the red plate. Dean you  _wait_. Hear me? If you can take out two at once, you rush, but not until then. Circle high, or low, whichever works best. Listen,” he taps the armor over his ear radiopiece, “for changes. Our goal here is going to be playing for time, unless we get an opening. Got me?”

Dean and Jo both nod. Jo smiles sympathetically at Dean, and straps on the red plate that won’t lock up quite as quickly as Dean and Benny’s black ones will. When Sam explained the spring pressure and locking mechanisms it’d all made sense, but right now Dean’s got nothing in his head but fuzzballs.

“Okay Baby,” he mutters into Impala’s neck after he mounts, “let’s show ‘em why we’re too young to play ball.”

The first 20 minute trimester actually goes well. The “harpies,” as Benny called them, play a game of cat and mouse with Benny, but mostly leave Jo alone. Their third is, as Benny said, _newer_. He’s not as young as Dean is, and he’s obviously been bonded longer than Dean’s been alive, but he still looks uncertain about the choices he makes on the field. The gleaming golden dragon he rides radiates boredom with every glowing pulse of his blue markings, and there’s an Opportunity there, if Dean can figure it out–or if Benny can.

“Okay, we’re starting the second trimester with more tickers than them: Jo, your turn. I doubt they’ll stay on me, but if they do? You take them out, no matter what. Dean, I saw you watching the Golden, is there something I should know?”

“They’re twitchy. I think I can take ‘em, but I can’t figure out what it is.”

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out if I got one. Otherwise, you ONLY come down if Jo gets taken out, or if one of the harpies go down.”

“Roger that.”

“Aye aye, Cap’n!” Jo chimes in.

The second trim goes _much less_ well. The first must have been for show, because the Golden, it seems, is _not a sweeper_. He’s a dive, and he’s got two of Jo’s tickers almost before she even realizes. Dean notices a half-second before Jo, and even though Dean and Impala aren't divers they’ve got the motor and recklessness required for the job. Jo’s only got one ticker left, so if Dean can stake out Goldie and the two he stole? That’s probably worth it.

None of that _actually_ goes through his head when they go into pursuit, but that’s what he tells Benny later, anyway.

Falling isn’t so bad, really. The key to a dive, however, is the turn at the end. Dean and Impala aren’t so great at that, but they don’t need to be–head-on collisions are more their thing.

They’re great at those.

The Golden pair slows down fractionally to take the turn when Dean and Impala don’t, and the collision clearly locks out both riders, and bangs one of the tickers. The other’s got half it’s cogs knocked, so it’ll still float but it won’t rise back up enough to be useful. Good enough. Dean’s collision with the ground knocks him out.  

* * *

 

Dean wakes to worried blue eyes and a giant black snout looming over his bed, and blinks a few times.  

“Are you insane?” asks the Golden’s partner.

Impala is radiating mirth and pride, and it bolsters Dean.

“I’m like, 99% sure they checked that out before they let me into the program. Are you questioning my Black’s judgement?” The Dragons’ choices in Riders are inviolable.

Dean sits up with minimal amounts of dizziness (thank you, bonding magic) to see the blue eyes holding mostly relief.

“You’re so young,” there’s awe in the guy’s voice, and Dean’s honestly out of his depth at this point.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that.” Dean shifts on the bed before sticking out his hand, “I’m Dean. Dean Winchester. This is Impala,” he adds the last when he feels the huff of warm breath on the back of his neck.”

“She’s beautiful. Much older than you–sorry. Personal curiosity. Castiel,” Castiel looks at Dean’s hand a moment before reaching for it, “it is a privilege to make your acquaintance. Jimmy out there gives his regards as well.”

The Golden stretches out and huffs before nudging Impala with a wing. She stretches out her forefeet like a cat before smacking him with her tail. And then she giggles.

“Go play outside, Baby, I’m fine.” She stretches out her neck to be scratched before scrambling out the tent door with Jimmy.

Castiel stares uncomfortably at Dean for another minute before nodding, smiling a little, and saying, “Congratulations.”

He walks to the other side of the tent just in time to meet his teammates, and shrugs off their attention with “just a bit of a concussion, no big deal,” and no matter how many times he takes hits and bounces back, the ability to heal a Dragon grants their Bonded still amazes Dean.

It’s not long before Dean is being smothered by his own teammates. They managed to hold out the rest of the game, giving them the even score Benny had set as their goal. He ruffles Dean’s hair, “You did this, brother. This is on you today,” and grins the biggest, toothiest grin he can muster.

Jo stretches out in Dean’s temporary bed, looking over at the two redheads on the other team. “Y’know, I think I remember that guy now–from the Riders’ banquet 20-some years ago. He’s kinda strange.” She elbows Dean, “Did he say anything to you?”

“Not really. We exchanged names, and he said ‘Congratulations,’ but I’m not sure what for. His Golden seems to like Impala, though.”

Benny and Jo exchange some sort of look, and Benny shrugs.

“You’ve got ‘til tomorrow to rest. The bracket’s all up, and we’ve got a fighting chance. Let’s not waste it!”

“Yeah!” Jo cheers.

The biggest tournament on Earth, and he didn’t fuck it up. Dean buries his face in the pillow next to Jo’s head and smiles.


	2. Mechanics of the Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3-on-3 Dragon-Riding Tackle Dodgeball sounds amazing, but how does one play?  
> (originally posted [here](http://messier51.tumblr.com/tagged/3-on-3-dragon-riding-tackle-dodgeball).)

  * Sort of a fusion of quidditch and dodgeball played with Dragons (see below) instead of broomsticks


  * Field is probably similar in size to the quidditch pitch in HP


  * There are 5 balls on the field, called Tickers (see below)


  * The game is played with three people on each team, who can play with any sort of tactics (see below)


  * Played in three trimesters (or “trims”) which can vary in time depending on the competition. No longer than 20 minutes each.


  * Game ends if all three players on a given team are locked out


  * Players wear special armor that locks up if it registers a net received amount of force (can vary in amount depending on the competition; see below)


  * There are two ways to remove opponents from the game: taking the out with Tickers, or tackling. Tackling usually removes both players, whereas the Ticker, if the throw is true, will only take out the Ticker and the opposing player.


  * Dragons are creatures of magic, but everything else is clockwork mechanisms.


  * _Dragons_.



 

Tickers:

  * About the size of an 11 inch softball (fairly easy to throw; softballs are measured by circumference so it’s a fast pitch softball if that helps?)
  * Brass balls
  * With a gyroscope mechanism and fragile gear system inside
  * Painted some bright color for easy-seeing on giant field (TBD)
  * Five of them on the playing field, distributed semi-randomly and evenly at the beginning
  * Called tickers because they tick–the gears inside are fairly noisy, which lets you know if they’ve broken or not
  * The gear system is fragile so that the Tickers can be partially decommissioned through use of force. These Tickers are called Broke (A Broke Ticker will hover, but it will remain where it was broken, it’s still legally part of the game, however, they’re generally difficult to retrieve.)
  * The gyroscope mechanisms is more difficult to stop, but will break in a major collision. A broken gyroscopic mechanism results in a Crashed Ticker, which will fall to the ground useless. It’s illegal to throw Crashed Tickers at your opponents.
  * Each Ticker has an optimal height determined by the gear system. When loosed, all five Tickers will gravitate to about the same vertical height (can vary based on the competition)  and this determines the Plane of Play.
  * Due to the gyroscopic mechanism, Tickers are not the easiest thing to throw, but if someone gets really good at it (called an Ace, like Jo) they can learn to throw the Tickers in a way that uses the gyroscopic motion to boost their throws.
  * It’s much easier to throw Tickers across the Plane than up or down (down is easier due to gravity) due to the gear systems, which want to push the Tickers to the Plane.



 

Player Specialties:

  * There are as many different tactics as there are Dragon Riders but there are a few more common ones
  * Ace (ie, Jo): Really good at throwing. Precise, understand the physics of the Tickers intimately (both at an engineering level and an intuitive feel of the Tickers).
  * Sweep (ie, Dean): You know the defensive line in football? This is that. But in Dragon + Rider form. The only difference is that a Sweep has to be picky about their application of force, many times it’s a suicide gambit. Dean makes a good sweep because he’s reckless, and willing to sacrifice himself for the team–but it’s also things that make him not entirely suited to the position. On a team without a strategist as good as Benny, Dean would be pretty useless.
  * Dive (ie Cas): Precise, agile, fearless. The hardest part of a dive is the turn at the bottom. Dives want to be fast, so that they can take, or take out Tickers (or take out opponents) in the dive, but are fairly vulnerable at the end of the dive. Note: This position doesn’t really suit Cas any more than being a Sweep suits Dean. I got their fighting styles mixed up; but I don’t think I’d switch it. Cas isn’t great at being precise, he’d really be better as a Sweep. BUT. He loves the freefall, and he IS fearless about it. Him and Jimmy are willing to try things no one else is, and they’ve got an uncanny ability to pull shit off. (Except, apparently, where Dean is concerned.)
  * Fielder (ie Benny, Charlie and Anna): General all-around players. Not terribly specialized, good at everything. Some teams are made of just fielders, and there are players who are old enough to be able to play pretty much anything–they fall into this category too.
  * … I’m sure there are others but those are all the ones I needed to come up with to write the story.



 

Armor:

  * The armor the Riders wear, like the Tickers, is clockwork-mechanism powered. It cushions the force of impact (from either Tickers or opponents) and measures it.
  * Once the amount of impact reaches some threshold (usually equal to one full tackle, but depends on the competition) the armor locks up, and the player is unable to move. Like a Crashed Ticker, the player is no longer legally allowed to participate in the Game.
  * One player on each team gets a red chestplate, adjusted to take more damage than the other two. (Usually two or three times as much; competition dependent. Always equal for both teams.)
  * Who wears the red plate is one of the pregame strategies each team has to decide on. It can be advantageous to give it to a Sweep, who can then tackle without being immediately removed from the Game. 



 

Dragons:

  * Wear some armor (non-springloaded) for Games because they can (and sometimes will) use their heads as battering rams against another Dragon’s Rider.
  * Come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, etc.
  * Awesome at flying.
  * Magical.
  * Can totally breathe fire, but mostly CBA.
  * Have extremely long lives.
  * Choose Riders, and Bond with them.
  * Riders are super useful for trivial tasks like scratching a hard-to-reach itch or convincing other Humans to piss off.
  * Very entertaining to throw Riders at each other in bouts of sporting.
  * Bestow long lives and advanced healing/strength/resistance to their Bonded Riders, because it’s way easier than training a new Rider.
  * Not all Dragons want Riders, but they are in fashion at the moment.
  * There are on the order of a thousand Dragon Rider pairs in existence at the moment.
  * Can speak, but again, mostly CBA. Easier to communicate in concepts and truths. Words are inaccurate.




End file.
